Thesis (Ph.D.)--Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1989. / Adviser: Paul H. Arntson. Includes bibliographical references.

BACKGROUND: The long-term decline in cohort fertility in highly developed countries has been widely documented. However, no systematic analysis has investigated which parity contributed most to the fertility decline to low and very low levels. Objective: We examine how the contribution of changing parity progression ratios varied across cohorts, countries, and broader regions in Europe, North America, Australia, and East Asia. We pay special attention to countries that reached very low completed cohort fertility, below 1.75 children per woman. Methods: Using population censuses and large-scale surveys for 32 low fertility countries, we decompose the change in completed cohort fertility among women born between 1940 and 1970. The decomposition method takes into account the sequential nature of childbearing as a chain of transitions from lower to higher parities. Results: Among women born between 1940 and 1955, the fertility decline was mostly driven by reductions in the progression ratios to third and higher-order births. By contrast, among women born between 1955 and 1970, changes in fertility showed distinct regional patterns: In Central and Eastern Europe they were fuelled by falling second-birth rates, whereas in the German-speaking countries, Southern Europe, and East Asia decreases in first-birth rates played the major role. Conclusions: Pathways to low and very low fertility show distinct geographical patterns, which reflect the diversity of the cultural, socioeconomic, and institutional settings of low fertility countries. Contribution: Our study highlights the importance of analysing parity-specific components of fertility in order to understand fertility change and variation. We demonstrate that similar low levels of completed cohort fertility can result from different combinations of parity-specific fertility rates.

In these papers I discuss the causal estimation of the effects of fertility and fertility planning developments on mother and child outcomes. A number of concerns are raised with existing identification techniques, and alternative methodologies to consistently estimate the effect of interest are proposed. These concerns and new techniques are illustrated using microdata on slightly more than 43,000,000 births ocurring between 1972 and 2013. In the first substantive chapter (written with Sonia Bhalotra), we discuss the validity of the use of twin births in fertility research. We demonstrate that twin births are not random. Successfully taking twins to term depends upon positive maternal health behaviours and investments in the periods preceding birth. We show that this is of considerable concern for estimation techniques which rely on twin births being (conditionally) randomly assigned to identify causal effects. To illustrate, we consider the estimation of the child quantity-quality (QQ) trade-off, and show that existing instrumental variable estimates are inconsistent in the contexts examined. Upon partially correcting for the fact that twin births are not random, a statistically significant QQ trade-off begins to emerge. We close by examining a number of partial identification techniques to bound the true effect of fertility on child outcomes. In the second substantive chapter, I examine the effect of fertility control policies on the fertility decisions and outcomes of women. I consider the case of the emergency contraceptive pill in Chile. The staggered arrival of this technology to Chile over the last decade has resulted in the availability of the first safe and legal post-coital birth control policies. In a context of high teenage pregnancy rates, difference-in-difference (DD) style estimates suggest that this policy has accounted for reductions in short-term teen childbearing by as much as 7%, an effect similar to the arrival of abortion in the USA. This policy is also shown to reduce fetal deaths reported in early gestation with no similar reduction in late gestation: suggestive evidence that an alternative fertility control policy may reduce costly and dangerous illegal abortions. Finally, I turn to the use of DD estimators as a policy-analysis tool. I discuss how such estimators perform in the case of reforms which may not be sharply demarcated to treatment and control clusters, but rather subject to local spillovers or externalities. I propose an extension of the typical DD estimator: a spillover-robust DD estimator. This methodology is applied to estimate the effect of two localised fertility control reforms in Mexico and Chile, where women close to treatment clusters who were not themselves subject to the reform may nonetheless travel to access treatment.

BACKGROUND: During the 20th century the Czech Republic went through profound changes in female employment, gender roles, population and family policies, and public childcare. The educational structure of the female population changed tremendously. At the same time, completed cohort fertility fluctuated between 1.8 and 2.2 children per woman. OBJECTIVE: This article analyses the changes in the level of completed cohort fertility by education, during educational expansion in the Czech population under the economic, cultural, and institutional background of the state socialist regime, and after its breakdown. METHODS: The changes in the level of completed cohort fertility by education are analysed by means of decomposition, complemented by the analysis of parity composition. RESULTS: uring the 20th century, education-specific completed cohort fertility increased, rather than declined. Fertility levels converged upwards, contributing to high uniformity within educational categories. The overall changes in fertility levels were driven by changes in the educational structure. These trends resulted in the dominance of the twochild family, while large families were disappearing and childlessness dropped to the biological minimum. CONCLUSIONS: An egalitarian economic system with traditional family-friendly policies, in combination with a family-unfriendly labour market, developed into a male breadwinner model of low gender equity. Future family policies should focus on the reconciliation of work and family. CONTRIBUTION: he study contributes to the discussion on links between education and fertility, adding a new picture to the mosaic of country-level analyses. The Czech Republic is an example of a country with high educational homogeneity of fertility behaviour where the education-specific levels of fertility converged upwards.

Masters of Science / The present study is an understanding of the relationship that exists between landholding and the reproductive behaviour of rural women in Kenya. Traditional women have rights to cultivate land as well as control income from the resulting crop production but rarely have rights to allocate or alienate land. Men are the rightful owners of the land. When the rightful owner person passes away, the eldest son of the family automatically takes ownership of the land and subsequent care of the family. This period of land ownership supported high fertility rates. However, in current spaces this practice has changed. Land is scarce and people are opting for other alternatives of limiting their family sizes. The aim of the study is to address the dissimilar changes of fertility behaviour among women in rural Kenya. Particularly, landholdings and low fertility behaviour, focusing on how this change happened. Data used is from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2008/2009. We acquire a representative sample size of 6761 women age 15-49 from the data. A multiplicity of statistical parameters like chi-square test, p-value, logistic regression, and multivariate analysis are adopted. In this regard, the relationship that exists between fertility and landholdings leads to large family sizes. In addition, land decrease has lead to the search of alternatives such as education, employment, and increase in age at marriage. The introduction of these factors has promoted smaller family sizes. This study is immensely useful for the policy makers, planners and other interested stakeholders in population and development spheres in this juncture.

Ph.D. (Social Work) / The problem stated by the candidate is twofold: * family planning programmes throughout the world have generally been unsuccessful; * the question arises as to whether social workers can contribute to family planning and population programmes and what such contribution should comprise. Family planning organisers are confronted with various problems when initiating a family planning programme and trying to ensure that it will function effectively - identifying the target group in terms of numbers and demographic and social characteristics; motivating the target group towards active participation in the family planning programme; motivation for active participation in the family planning programme by the target group, and maintaining of the contraceptive regimen by those already engaged in the family planning programme. Official statistics and research findings in respect of the first two problems are available in South Africa; no adequate information exists in regard to the latter problem according to which programme organisers can plan and operate. A review of research on family planning and population programmes conducted in South Africa and other countries was undertaken. This includes a study of the findings of various KAP investigations. An empirical investigation was undertaken on an aspect in the field of study of which there is insufficient knowledge - a study that is an individual contribution towards existing knowledge. On numerous occasions in this thesis it becomes evident that social workers, by virtue of their special knowledge, values and skills, can make a unique and professional contribution to the dissemination of family planning. One of the particular skills of the social worker is that of conducting interviews. The social worker also has the ability to motivate people towards change in their behaviour. The social worker can therefore, through personal interviewing, guidance and motivation of people, contribute to the expansion of the population programme in general and the family planning programme in particular...

Pediatric injury is both common and expensive. Finding ways to prevent pediatric injury is a major public health concern. Many studies have investigated various aspects of pediatric injury, and some suggest that birth order may be an important risk factor for pediatric injury. This study further examined the relationship of birth order with pediatric injury, specifically studying the association of birth order with emergency department-attended infant injury while adjusting for other important family and individual covariates. Data for analysis included Utah birth certificate, death certificate, and hospital emergency department datasets, which were probabilistically linked to obtain complete demographic and injury information for infants born in 1999—2002. Three groups of risk factors were defined for analysis: maternal demographics, maternal risk behaviors, and infant demographics. Two outcome variables were defined for this study, “injury event” and “severe injury event.” Data was analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEE). Birth order was associated with infant injury events and severe infant injury events. Birth order 4th or greater had the greatest effect for both injury outcomes. Additionally, several maternal characteristics were associated with infant injury events and severe infant injury events. In particular, maternal age and maternal smoking behavior were associated with increased infant injury risk. This study identified two targeted populations that are well-suited to injury prevention efforts: infants born to mothers who smoke, and infants born to mothers who are young and have many other children.

There have been several significant studies during recent years concerning the relationship between parental socioeconomic background and achievement. This research examines religious influence, parental control, family size, support, and educational encouragement which in turn influence educational and occupational attainment.Data were obtained from questionnaires completed by 843 married Mormon men from Canada.Only respondent's religious activity, parental support, and educational encouragement were significant in determining the occupational and educational attainment of the respondent. Family size and parental control were not significant.

This study investigated the relationship of parents' achievement-oriented and self- development goals (for their children) on youth reported anxiety, while taking parents' psychological control and responsiveness into account as possible mediating factors. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to further investigate the direct/indirect effects of (a) parents' reported achievement-oriented goals on youth anxiety via parental psychological control in two types of schools (key school for more academically advanced students and typical school for students with lower academic achievement); and (b) parents' reported self-development goals on youth anxiety via parental psychological control in key and typical schools. The current study also introduced parents' responsiveness as a new mediator and single-child family/ multiple- child family (family type/size) as a new moderator to investigate their effect on the overall model as related to youth anxiety. is study included 1,044 participants, reflecting 522 dyads (student and primary caregiver) from an urban city in Eastern Mainland China. Participating students were enrolled in the 11th grade in senior high school. Due to the high correlations of parents' achievement- oriented goals and parents' self-development goals (r = 0.975, p < 0.001), we combined and created one new variable--parents' achievement/self-development goals. Therefore, in the final multigroup SEM analyses we used this new variable in place of the previously hypothesized two goal-related variables. Additionally, rather than the initially proposed two types of schools, due to constricting limitations in the data, we were limited to making comparisons between single- child and multiple-child families. In our data analyses, no indirect effects were found among the identified variables. However, data analyses indicated a direct effect from parents' psychological control on youth anxiety in the key school regardless of family composition (single-child or multiple-child families), and in youth attending the typical school and from a single-child family. In general, the data analyses identified two major findings: (a) We found a positive relationship between parents' psychological control and youth anxiety for youth attending a typical school and living in a single-child family and for youth attending a key school, regardless of family type/size (single-child or multiple-child family); and (b) A marginally significant relationship (p = 0.053) was identified between parents' reported achievement/self-development goals and youth reported parent responsiveness. Some concerns were voiced among research team members about cultural sensitivity to one of the parents' survey questions. For example, one question referred to students being interested in and joining extracurricular activities. Students in China may or may not have had opportunities to participate in these types of activities. Data were reanalyzed after seven items were removed. In post hoc exploratory analyses, a new variable was defined and created, parents' reported achievement goals. Parents' reported achievement goals were found to be youth reported parents' psychological control only in (a) the typical school and single child family model and (b) the key school and multiple-child family model. Youth reported parents' psychological control is positively related to youth anxiety in all the models. Indirect paths were found from parents' achievement goals on youth anxiety via youth reported parents' psychological control were only found in (a) the multiple child model, (b) the multiple child and key school model, and (c) the single child and typical school model. We acknowledge that our data were collected in China during the COVID-19 global pandemic. During this pandemic, professionals note that youth, including youth in China, reported significantly higher levels of anxiety, making our current data more difficult to compare with pre-COVID-19 data collected in China. Future research should further explore the development of youth anxiety across time (longitudinal studies). To inform prevention and intervention efforts targeting youth anxiety, researchers must consider numerous variables that may directly or indirectly mitigate or exacerbate youth anxiety. Future research may consider and investigate the following variables: family composition; parenting styles and cultural factors that are embedded in parenting styles; parents' goals for and expectations of their children's academic achievement; family composition, including sibling relationships; and the type of school youth attend.

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